406 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1926 
or frijoles (Phaseolus vulgaris) of several varieties; lima beans 
(Phaseolus lunatus); peanuts (Arachis hypogaea); dried pods of 
cayenne pepper or aj (Capsicum frutescens); white and yellow 
potatoes (Solanum tuberosum) ; sweet potatoes or camotes (Ipomoea 
batatas) ; manioc (Manihot utilissima), from which cassava is pre- 
pared; and fruits of various kinds of trees and shrubs, such as chiri- 
moyas (Annona cherimola), pepinos (Solanum muricatum), and 
locumas (Lucuma obovata). There were also spindles of cotton 
(Gossypium peruvianum) thread, and of yarn spun from the wool 
of the Ilama and alpaca. 
Farther north along the same coast, near Trujillo and Chimbote, 
there are other prehistoric cemeteries, where we found funerary vases 
of different sorts, fashioned in the form of squashes and pumpkins 
(Cucurbita pepo and C. maxima) and calabashes (Cucurbita lage- 
naria), achira roots (Canna edulis), potatoes, and manioc roots. 
There were other vases having the forms of gods or idols, evidently 
consecrated as objects of worship, like the image of the god of agri- 
culture, a masked monster holding in one hand a stalk of maize and 
in the other a manioc plant with its pendent tubers; the corn god, 
surrounded with ears of corn; and a third image seated on a warty 
squash. There were also vases covered in relief with peanuts in 
terra cotta, and still others with decorations in the form of lima 
beans, 
Some of the mummies were wrapped in elegant robes decorated 
with beautiful borders resembling Gobelin tapestries, whose colors 
were perfectly preserved. 
It was the discovery of these interesting objects in the prehistoric 
tombs that inspired me with a desire to study the plants employed 
as food and in the arts and industries of the indigenous tribes of 
other parts of America, both north and south of the Equator. I read 
carefully in the originals the accounts of the voyages of Columbus, 
Cieza de Ledén, John Smith, Jacques Cartier, Champlain, the Jesuit 
fathers, and other explorers and colonizers, likewise the accounts of 
the conquests of Brazil, Mexico, and Peru written by the Portuguese 
and Spaniards. 
Then I asked myself: What was the origin of all these valuable 
plants utilized by the Indians of our continent? After having read 
attentively the works of Piso, Father Feuillée, Oviedo, and Hernan- 
dez, the great work of Alphonse de Candolle, “ The origin of culti- 
vated plants,” and other books of the same nature, the answer to 
this question was not a very difficult one. The aborigines of Amer- 
ica did not find upon the continent a single economic plant of Europe, 
Asia, or Africa. Even the cotton in the cloth of the ancient Ameri- 
cans came from a Gossypium quite distinct from the species of the 
Old World. The only exception, perhaps, is the calabash (Cucurbita 
